China's Central Economic Work Conference is an annual gathering of the nation's top leaders to plan for the country's economic approach during the year ahead.

This year's conference was held on Dec. 14-16 in Beijing and was attended by President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and other top leaders and the nation's main economic planners.

The 2017 plan will be part of the overall national macro-plan for realizing the political goal of establishing moderate prosperity in China by 2020.

Referred to by some commentators as "an annual tone-setting meeting," the 2016 conference set "stability and reform" as key goals.

It concluded that China achieved its set growth target for this year and the challenge was to set a 2017 target that is not only achievable but that can be achieved in the context of the existing and expanding global economic challenges.

Each year's conference, therefore, is a necessary routine exercise in ensuring that next year's plans are made and implemented in consort with all others.

The nation's top planners reviewed how 2016 began with first-quarter economic headaches, accompanied by wildcard Western predictions of early "crashes" to be sparked by China's presumed inability to meet its set growth targets.

But despite rising global uncertainties, domestic downward economic pressure and looming financial risks, the Chinese economy is ending 2016 with encouraging signs.

In the first three quarters, the economy expanded 6.7 percent.

The country has therefore come through 2016 as planned – and its economy performed much better than predicted by its critics.

But with 2020 fast approaching, Beijing's planners are not sitting on their achieved laurels.

The forecasts predict not-too-friendly global economic weather in 2017, and the 2016 national economic planners' conference took clear note of this.

In the face of mounting evidence of global economic climate change, the world's second largest economy has to continue performing a delicate balancing act of humungous proportions: to ease debt burdens, address financial risks and cut excess capacity, while maintaining stable growth to achieve its set targets for 2020.

China is facing more challenging external and domestic environments in 2017, including rising protectionism around the world and financial risks at home and abroad. But it's been down that road before.

Economic disaster preparedness, creative mixtures of prudence and resilience with belt-tightening and noose-loosening where and when necessary all featured in the mix of challenges China has faced this year.

China also aims to attract more foreign investment in 2017 and beyond, hoping foreign-funded businesses will play an important role in developing the economy as it accelerates towards 2020.

In China's continuing drive to meet its ongoing economic challenges, central management has played a key role in a state where laws are followed, policies are implemented, changed rules are observed, official corruption is severely punished and – most importantly – decisions of national import are made quickly.

The progressive continuity driving China's accelerated economic reforms and its ability to change gears when needed does not derive from prescriptions applied after one-shot, hour-long conference table prognoses.

Rather, it is always the result of what happens between the annual conferences.

China today has to implement several plans in concert, each taking a different path towards the same goal. The out-looking Belt and Road initiative is as important as the inward-looking Poverty Reduction strategy. But each requires good planning.

China estimates that some 700 million of its people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 30 years. By the planners' official estimates, 14.4 million rural Chinese were lifted out of poverty in 2015. But there were still some 55 million mainly rural Chinese still living in poverty in 2016.

Now, the state aims to lift 55 million people out of poverty in the coming four years, "in order to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society by 2020."

Proper planning is an absolutely essential asset for any country intent on ensuring the best possible scenario for its people at all times.

There will always be pitfalls, but good forward planning will also cater for the unexpected.

Nothing beats a proper plan. But successful implementation takes resilience and fortitude, vision and courage, consistency and determination, all of which are abundant on the supply side in China today.

Earl Bousquet is editor-at-large of The Diplomatic Courier and president of the Saint Lucia-China Friendship Association. He is also a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://china.org.cn/opinion/earlbousquet.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.